Trevor Fisher on the Trump takeover of the Republican Party and Democrat misreadings.
In my last article I pointed out how politics in 2024 will advantage Farage – and this has become more obvious since. But the unexpected factor was Nigel Farage’s appearance at the Idaho Republican Caucus where he was praised by Donald Trump. How this will boost Farage is an open question, but highlights the big issue for 2024 – Trump’s March to the White House.
How to stop Trump overshadows the British General Election by light years. Both the Tories and Reform UK will be playing second fiddle to Trump, but aiming to play the card that elections in the USA and UK must have the same outcome – a victory for the Right. To counter the myth, hands across the water has to become the priority. There are common themes to focus on. In many ways the US is well ahead of Britain, so learning is the first essential.
Learning the Trump lessons
The first lesson is that the Trump phenomenon is not a flash in the pan. Trump is a monster and unique, but was not short lived. The Republican Party has been destroyed by Trump and when Nikki Haley loses the Republican Primaries it will become clear that whatever the Right Wing option has been up to now, it has morphed into a monster since Trump appeared.
This lesson was missed by the Democrat establishment, notably Hilary Clinton. Some two years ago she was amazed Trump had not been rejected by the Republicans. The essential lesson is that Trump fed off trends which are appearing across the globe, which the mealy mouthed call Populism.
Biden has been a moderately effective President, but the Democrat belief he was able to make Trump
a forgotten memory were unsustainable. Trump has remade the Republican Party and trying to fit his turbo charged extremism into the party of say Eisenhower or the Bush family is flat earth delusionism. A turning point has been reached.
The GOP is dead
The acronym GOP – Grand Old Party – is still being used by an American media which does not grasp that Trump has destroyed the old party. A de Santis may act against him on a minor issue – he stopped Florida law makers levying taxes to pay Trump’s legal bills – knowing this would make a future run against the monster impossible – but no internal opponent can stop him taking the nomination. What is needed is the idea of a Radical Republicanism which does not even secure the United in United States of America. Hence the talk of a new Civil War.
Getting the new party of the monster needs information from across the Pond. The newsletters of Robert Reich are valuable, some of which appear in the Guardian. Reich was a member of Bill Clinton’s first cabinet, and has written this year articles which break the taboo on referring to fascism as an element of Radical Republicanism. In this he cites the very real threats of violence used to intimidate independent politicians and judges “from the former President’s MAGA supporters”. Reich warns that the pattern of threats means that “everyone from judges and prosecutors has been threatened and fears for their safety”.
Reich also has an acute eye for the mix tape playing in the heads of the American voter, notably the failure to understand the attack on the Capitol as the attempt to overthrow the election promoted by the Trump lie he won the election. Reich usefully focuses on how democracy can be saved. Though this is not the strong card that Biden thinks it is, since Trump claims the democratic vote went for him last election, and those who back his lies regard the prisoners convicted of Capitol violence as ‘hostages.’
Ukraine
The unpredictability of Radical Republicanism as it tacks to the very far Right is a different issue. The most dangerous leap was taken by the House of Representatives Republicans last year, cutting off funding for Ukraine, reversing previous support. Why this was done needs careful analysis, since it contradicts the MAGA assertion that Trump is about Making America Great Again. The core of the Putin crusade is to make Russia Great Again in the specific cause of Russian Imperialism – the expansion of Russian armed power into the area which America occupied in 1945. How does handing Ukraine to Russian control help Make America Great Again? Sadly, the Clintonised Democrat Party, though happy to help the Ukrainians, has failed to ask any serious questions about MAGA in general and the Ukrainian reversal in particular.
Which takes us back to Hilary Clinton and her amazement that Trump is still standing after all his crimes. Underestimating Trump was a serious mistake and Reich is doing something to remedy this fault of the recent Democrat party. He needs critical support and a real attempt to network among progressives across the Atlantic. Farage is seeking to exploit the growth of Trumpism for a defined political agenda. The challenge is clear and unmistakable.